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Poisoned by Polonium: The Litvinenko File

Documentary

The filmmaker who had total access to deceased Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko makes the inflammatory claim that Russia has fallen under the control of the Federal Security Service (FSS) -- a natural successor to the KGB -- in this documentary designed explicitly to indict the actions of Russian president Vladimir Putin. From claiming that free speech in contemporary Russia is being silenced by the government to implicating the FSS in the 1999 apartment-complex bombing attributed to Chechen terrorists, director Andrei Nekrasov pulls no punches in tracing corruption within the Russian government to the highest office. In the months before the film's eponymous dissenter was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210, he had grown frustrated with the broken system and, along with some key members of the FSS, began to speak out. Later, after Litvinenko held a press conference condemning the Russian Secret Service and subsequently fell ill, Nekrasov conducted a series of interviews with the outspoken opponent of Putin's government. In an era when money laundering, mysterious deaths, and harassment of dissenting voices have become troublingly commonplace on Russian soil, Nekrasov launches a no-holds-barred attack on the president he holds accountable for creating a chilling climate of fear and oppression.~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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